Followed the example of having dealt poorly with bird (8)
I believe the answer is:
emulated
'followed the example of' is the definition.
'emulated' can be an answer for 'followed' (to emulate someone is to follow their example). I'm unsure of the 'the example of' bit.
'dealt poorly with bird' is the wordplay.
'poorly' indicates an anagram (a poor spelling).
'with' is an insertion indicator.
'bird' becomes 'emu' (emu is a type of bird).
'dealt' is an anagram of 'lated'.
'lated' enclosing 'emu' is 'EMULATED'.
'having' is the link.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for emulated that I've seen before include "Tried hard to be as good as someone" , "Imitated" , "Rivalled" , "Tried to equal or copy" , "Male duet strove to equal" .)